Avery wasn't sure how many hours had passed since she had fallen asleep. She had woken up confused and disoriented. She remembered closing her eyes on the couch, and now she was on her bed, covered in the blanket from the living room. She quickly sat up and looked around. She slid off the bed and went downstairs. There were no apparent signs of Nytin anywhere, and when she went to the dryer, it was empty and clean, as if Nytin hadn't ever been there in the first place. The only sign that another person had been there were the neatly folded towels on the washing machine. 

Avery went back upstairs, flopping on her bed and curling into her blankets, upset with herself for falling asleep while a guest was over. She turned around and noticed something on top of her journal. Avery grabbed it and brought it close to her face. Luckily, the letters were big enough for her to read, which she deemed was done on purpose.  

Hello Starshine,

I hope you find this letter when you wake up, but if you're reading this, you clearly have, and hopefully, I wrote big enough for you to see.

Regardless, thank you again for washing my clothes. Next time, if you're tired, simply tell me, and I'll bring blankets or something along those lines.

I'll see you in a few day's time, at your house, with something to repay you.

Signed, Nytin

PS. Your shampoo smells good, so thank you for that, too. I might start using it myself now. 

Avery read the letter and folded it with a small laugh, "You write like an old man.." With a small, content sigh, she moved over to her nightstand and opened it, grabbing some tape and another book identical to her journal, but this one had all kinds of papers and pictures inside; it was a scrapbook of some kind. She opened a blank page in the book and taped the letter inside, putting it back on the nightstand and grabbing her journal, including the slate and stencil. 

She opened it to a blank page and began writing, unable to keep herself from smiling as he did. He paused in his writing to put some music on and hummed softly while writing whatever came to mind in the journal. 

She wasn't sure how much time had gone by when she had finished. Checking the time, she was shocked, to say the least. It was around seven in the afternoon, meaning she had slept the day away, and when she looked out the window, the sun was already setting. She could tell due to the reds and oranges slowly disappearing into darkness, but unfortunately, Avery couldn't tell that it had begun snowing. She would have to be outside and have the snowflakes float right before her to notice or simply have someone tell her.   

Avery decided to skip dinner and simply get ready for bed. She took a quick shower, headed back upstairs to put on her pajamas, and threw herself into the pillow fortress she called her bed. She wriggled around restlessly, curling up under the blankets and closing her eyes. "I wonder what he's gonna bring…maybe apple stroodles." She snickered quietly before closing her eyes to give her body the rest it desperately needed. 

From there, a week had gone by, and with no sign of Nytin, Avery found herself missing the strange man more and more as the days went by. However, she had no means to contact him and simply had to wait. She had visited the clearing at their usual time, but Nytin hadn't shown up there either, and for the first time, Avery felt as if the clearing was a bit too empty to be there alone, so she headed home shortly after. 

She decided to invite her friends over to hang out and play games. She put in one of her earbuds and dialed a number. After a few rings, a soft voice came from the phone with another voice that sounded a bit distant, yelling out something Avery couldn't quite make out.

“Hey Avery, do you need someth-” The soft voice had begun to speak but was cut off as a louder voice joined in.

“That Avery?! Avery! I finally beat Amirah in that racing game! Quick, put it on speaker, babe!” The second voice got louder, which meant the person had gotten closer. There was a soft ‘Okay’ from the other person.

Avery laughed a little, “Heyyy, are you sure you didn't just get lucky, Blaire? Or… that maybe Amirah went easy on you?”

Blaire went silent momentarily, causing Avery to laugh a little more.  

"Did you go easy on me, Amirah?" Blaire asked, no longer speaking to Avery. 

Amirah quickly answered, "Just a little- ahem, anyway, didn't you need something, Avery?" 

Avery responded after stifling her laughter, "Oh yeah…I was wondering if you guys wanted to stop by. I'm free today, and I'm feeling lon-" She couldn't help but think about Nytin for just a few seconds but quickly brushed it aside, clearing her throat, "I mean.. we haven't seen each other in a while, so-"  

He was interrupted by Blaire's brash voice, "Of course, we'll come over! I'll bring snacks!"  

Avery flinched as her voice was very loud and her ears were sensitive, "O-Okay, I'll see you guys soon, then?" 

Amirah answered this time, "We'll be there in about... I dunno 30 minutes or less? See you soon."  

"Alright, see you soon." She smiled, but before she hung up the phone, she could hear Amirah beginning to scold Blaire. She didn't quite catch what she had said but found it funny anyway. 

Avery decided to tidy up her home, bringing out a few games they usually played and moving some pillows and blankets down to the living room. While doing that, she put holiday music on the television to fill in the silence. She hadn't realized how alone she felt in her tiny studio apartment, having spent a lot of time with Nytin lately, and now, with the sudden decrease in time spent with him, it felt as if something was missing. She, of course, had Blaire and Amirah, but they didn't visit very often as they had their own lives and things to do, such as work, while Avery was unemployed and unable to do much due to her disability. 

Avery danced around her home, looking for things out of place, singing along to the music playing. She didn't do any specific dance, just a mixture of whatever she could come up with. She spun and pretended to be waltzing, failing to notice Blaire and Amirah walk into the apartment. They hadn’t announced their arrival either and simply watched her dance, clean, and sing. Avery paused, seeing two blobby figures. One was ginger, while one was dark. She stopped dancing abruptly and whipped around to see the two figures standing at her door, "Is.. that you guys?" She slowly asked, seemingly ready to run away.  

Amirah had been recording Avery the entire time, trying to contain her laughter, "Y-yes." She managed to squeak out. 

Avery's face lit up brighter than a Christmas tree, and she stared at them in utter horror. "Oh… oh no…did... Did you see that?" she asked softly.  

Blaire answered this time, "Oh, you know we did!" she said, finally erupting into loud laughter. Amirah was laughing but softer, still pointing the phone at Avery. What was worse on her end was that she couldn't even see the phone or that she was holding anything.  

Avery's once pale face was now as red as a cherry. She covered her face, went over to the couch, and buried herself in the mound of blankets and pillows she had put there before. She embarrassedly groaned while kicking her legs, "Why didn't you knock? That's so embarrassing. "The blankets muffled her voice, but she didn't want to crawl out from them quite yet, so she simply stayed put.

Amirah and Blaire walked over to the couch, sat down, and tried to catch their breaths. Amirah spoke first, "You gave us a key, remember?"  

Avery gave an annoyed groan, "Right. Right. I forgot…maybe I should take that back.." She said, finally coming out from under the blankets. That's when she noticed that Amirah had something in her hand, and it was small and sported the same colors that she remembered her phone being, "A-Are you recording right now? Delete that!" She reached forward to grab the phone, but Blaire quickly held her back while Amirah stood up to end the recording, lock her phone, and put it in her purse. 

Blaire let go when she deemed it safe, ending with Avery's face planting into the sofa, "Oops. Sorry, Avery." She chuckled, picking her back up and sitting her down upright. Blaire was the definition of a 'jock.' She was slightly over six feet tall, with long, curly ginger hair. She was very muscular and able to lift Avery with ease, but she was no match against her, so she simply let her carry him. 

Amirah sat back down. "Aww... don't be upset. We're just making memories, " she said with a small giggle. Avery rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile.  

"Fine.. I'll just get you guys back later." She said and looked around, "So.. did you guys bring snacks?" 

Blaire abruptly stood up, proudly putting her hands on her hips, "Hell yeah, I did! I brought spicy chips.. and those nasty ass jelly beans we never finished..." She walked over to a large grocery bag that had been left by the front door, "...honey buns, cupcakes, basically my entire snack supply!" She returned, placing the array of snacks on the table. 

Amirah grimaced at the sight of the jelly beans. "I thought we all agreed to throw those away after we got the vomit-flavored one?"  

Avery shuddered, "That wasn't half as bad as the rotten egg one." Her eyes watered simply at the thought of it. Truly, those candies were evil and should have been disposed of the day they bought them.  

Blaire shrugged, "Figured it could be a punishment for losing. I brought the braille uno, too." She said, bringing it out, "Or we could play bullshit." She looked at the table for the playing cards. There were board games, a tactile Rubik's cube, and snacks, but no cards, "Actually.. where are the cards?" 

Avery blinked, "I forgot.. I think they're upstairs...in the… closet, top left?"  

Blaire immediately volunteered, "I'll go get them!" She scampered away towards the stairs. She tried to go even faster by skipping stairs but ended up falling forward with a loud 'fwumk,' "I'm okay!" her voice rang out before she disappeared into the loft area. 

Amirah waited a few seconds and sighed, "I'll go help her before she messes up your closet." She said, quickly joining Blaire in looking for the cards. 

 Avery laughed a little. Those two were almost inseparable. Of course, that was expected of a couple, but they seemed even closer than that. Avery felt they'd get married sometime in the future and greatly looked forward to it. Just the thought of it made her happy for them. She began organizing the games and snacks before she heard a shout. 

"Who the hell are you?!" Blaire's voice rang out in the small apartment, startling her. 

Upstairs, Amirah and Blaire were staring at a cloaked figure that had begun to crawl through the window and stopped halfway once Blaire had yelled out. The cloaked person slowly entered the room, looking around, and then pointed at themselves in what seemed like confusion. Amirah couldn't help but snicker from behind Blaire. 

Blaire glared at her for just a second, "Don't laugh-" She shook her head, putting her attention back onto the stranger, "Yes, you! Are you an idiot?! Who the fuck are you, and why are you crawling through the window like some weirdo?" 

The man finally spoke, "Actually, I should be asking who you are." They said, staring down at Blaire. They were taller than Blaire, but the two were close in height, so neither was intimidated by the other.

Blaire didn't back down, her emerald eyes glaring up at the person, "I asked you first." 

The person simply glared back, their Jade eyes meeting her emerald ones, "I asked you second."  

Blaire stared at the person for a few more seconds before yelling down toward the living room, "Avery! Some bummy, hobo-looking dude in a cloak just came through your window!"

The person seemed to take that into great offense, "Hobo..?"

Avery seemed to know exactly who it was, although she was confused by the odd entrance. She answered excitedly while standing and walking towards the stairs, "That's Nytin! You can let him in!"  

Nytin quickly went over to the railing, "Hey! You cannot just agree that I look like a bum!" 

"I didn't. I never agreed to anything, actually." Avery said in a matter-of-fact way, crossing her arms playfully. 

Nytin glared at Blaire before going down the stairs. "That's fair, but you didn't deny it either. That's rather cold of you, Starshine." He said playfully, walking over to Avery. When he got closer, he had a large bag in his hands that had been hidden inside his cloak. Blaire and Amirah quickly followed after him, standing next to Avery. Nytin and Blaire traded a sour glance at each other before turning both their attention to Avery. 

Blaire opened her mouth to speak, but Nytin quickly cut her off. "Anyway, who... are these two?" he asked, handing the bag to Avery, who took it but didn't look inside yet, though she noticed it was rather heavy. 

Avery motioned to Amirah first, "This is Amirah. I've known her since we were in diapers." Then she motioned to Blaire, "This is Blaire. I've known her since middle school. "And then," she motioned to Nytin, "This is Nytin. I met him a month or so ago." Avery paused briefly before pointing to herself, "Oh, and of course, I'm Avery. It's nice to meet you all."  

All three of the other people rolled their eyes at her lame joke, not that she could see it. Finally, Amirah spoke, "You've never mentioned Nytin before... I mean, I don't think you have.." She said softly, "..and you've known him for over a month and haven't even told us? I thought we were friends.." She sounded similar to Avery when she had been messing around with Nytin, her voice full of false hurt.  

Avery sheepishly laughed, "Oh, I didn't? Well, to be fair, I haven't even heard from you guys in what felt like a month." Looking at her in what looked like pain, "So who's really hurt here?" She mimicked the false hurt right back.  

Blaire and Nytin had been exchanging bitter glances at one another. Blaire didn't trust Nytin at all, and Nytin thought Blaire was annoying. They turned back to Amirah and Avery, who were both trying to get the other to feel guilty. Avery rose victorious after hugging Amirah and apologizing for 'being a truly awful best friend.' 

Nytin shifted to stand closer to her and nudged his arm, "Look at what I brought you. If you don't like it, I'll get you something else." 

Avery paused. "Wait, this is for me?" she asked, staring up at Nytin, who simply hummed 'mhm'. A grateful smile quickly appeared on her face, "Thank you." 

Amirah and Blaire curiously scooted closer to get a better look. Amirah leaned over Avery's shoulder and patted her arm rapidly, clearly impatient, "Hurry! What's inside? I'm curious."